Warren woman's death caused by obesity complications, autopsy shows

Oct. 23, 2012

Written by

Bill Laitner and Tammy Stables Battaglia

Detroit Free Press Staff Writers

The death of a woman found bedridden amid filth in her Warren apartment last week was caused by "multiple injuries and complications" of morbid obesity, officials said Tuesday.

And her death was an accident, according to the Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office, which conducted the autopsy because the woman died in an Oakland County hospital.

Those findings could help authorities decide whether to charge the woman's husband or other family members with neglect. Warren police said they will decide next week whether to seek a warrant for charges.

The woman, who died Monday at St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital in Madison Heights, weighed 360 pounds, according to the autopsy.

Police and fire officials initially estimated her weight at 500 pounds. Her family said the woman was bedridden after her hip was crushed in early 2011 in a hit-and-run car crash.

"At some point, this lady should have been getting care that she did not get," said Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green, who did not release the 41-year-old woman's name. "There should have been some intervention way before this happened."

The woman's husband, who declined to be named, called 911 last week to request emergency aid at their apartment off Gloede Street near 12 Mile Road.

Firefighters had to remove a door-wall from the small, two-story apartment across from Macomb Community College's Warren campus to remove the woman, police said.

Her sister-in-law, who asked not to be identified Tuesday, said the woman's health started to fail Sunday. She declined to comment further.

She is caring for the woman's children -- ages 13, 11 and 2-year-old twins -- who were removed from the home last week.

Rescuers said they found the woman in filth, amid maggots and bugs. Firefighters had to wear biohazard suits to remove her, but her children were in good condition, officials said.

The woman's husband said last week that he tried to take adequate care of his wife but that she made her own medical decisions, talking by phone with her doctors and telling him she was OK.

He said he finally insisted on calling for help.

"I love her and it was hard, and it was just me," he said. "And I just did the best I could for so long."

He asked that the family not be identified to prevent ridicule of his older children.